2009 Mets Season Thread

[SD_Eagle5]

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In battle of wits with Phillies, Mets unarmed
By John Gonzalez

Inquirer Columnist

The beauty in sports is rooted in balance. Not everyone can be on top. Not everyone can be talented. For every yin, there's a yang. For every team that plays well under pressure, there's another that crumbles beneath the heavy weight of expectations.
Put another way: For every champion, there's a chump.

Which brings us to the Phillies and their negative image, the New York Mets. One team consistently overachieves, the other doesn't. One team enjoys a good challenge, the other enjoys early vacations. And one team just won a title, while the other . . . well, no need to rub it in.

By now, you'd think the Mets would accept their role as the Phillies' footstool. But bless their deluded little hearts, they keep trying to convince themselves that they can keep up with the Fightin's on all fronts.

Remember when, back in December, Cole Hamels went on WFAN in New York and brashly called the Mets choke artists? Turns out the Amazin's didn't take kindly to the remarks. And they finally got around to crafting a super clever comeback.

"They say talk your talk and walk your walk," Mets outfielder Ryan Church told Newsday recently. "Well, hey, they won the World Series. More power to them. It's only a big bull's-eye on their back. We're coming."

I love that it took the Mets approximately two months to come up with something and fire back at Hamels. Then, when they did, they dispatched Church, of all people, and armed him with the incredibly lame "I'm rubber, you're glue" equivalent of trash-talking rejoinders. If the back-and-forth had been a prize fight, the ring doctor would have called Church out on his feet. If it had been a national spelling bee, Church would be the kid who stepped up to the microphone - only to pass out and go face down on the stage.

In a way, I almost feel for the Mets. Not only have the Phils beaten them in the standings over the last two years, but they've also won the word battle. After Jimmy Rollins used the Mets as a punch line during the Phils' championship parade, the Amazin's really should have stopped trying to match wits with their rivals.

But I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. Abject failure is in the Mets' DNA. The only thing they do better than folding in September is opening their mouths and inserting their cleats in February.

Last year around this time, it was Carlos Beltran who stepped in it when he foolishly decided to puff out his chest and stand up to the Phils: "Without [Johan] Santana, we felt that we had a chance to win our division. With him, now I have no doubt that we're going to win our division. I have no doubt. We've got what it takes. To Jimmy Rollins: We are the team to beat."

That silly bit of bravado worked so well that Church and the Mets figured they'd try it once more. Some people never learn.

What's the old saying again? Those who ignore history are doomed to go golfing in October?

[PhillyPhreak54]

[MDS]

quiero nos latinos de trashy?

[BigEd76]

They might sign Pudge Rodriguez too

[BigEd76]

Beltran on Hamels:

"Well, you know, he made a comment. The only thing that I know is that he will be watched every time he faces us, and hopefully we kill him....and then he'll have to deal with the situation."

David Murphy on Philly.com:

I'm sure by now you've read Jose Reyes' comments to New York reporters at Mets camp in Port St. Lucie. Specifically, he took umbrage with the Phillies' suggestion that Reyes "pimps" his home runs too much. Last year, some merry Phillie pranksters jokingly put Reyes' name above Victorino's locker after he hit a home run and pumped his fist.

"I heard that," Reyes said, as reported by the New York Post. "I don't know why they said that because I'm not the only when I hit a home run that I 'pimp' it. A lot of people do that. A lot of people from Philadelphia too. They stand there for a couple seconds and nobody say nothing.  I don't know why the Phillies focus so much on the New York Mets. We just worry about us.

"I don't know why they always focus on us. They are the ones to win the World Series. We don't say nothing about them. We just say congratulations to the Phillies. They always say something about us and we don't even focus on them. We focus on them when we play against them.

"We don't worry about the Phillies – we focus about the New York Mets," Reyes said. "They have to be happy because they win the World Series. Why do they focus on us? What did we do to them? If they don't like us, that's OK."

beeotch

[Seabiscuit36]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

[SD_Eagle5]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

maybe he needs Tommy John surgery

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Maybe he needs to be sent to hell the hard way.

[ice grillin you]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

maybe he needs Tommy John surgery

might miss opening day they are saying...paging dr andrews....

[MDS]

all i want for xmas is a mets choke so yea this is literally as good if not better than a repeat. the phils can go 0-162 so long as the mets dont win anything.

[PhillyPhreak54]

 

[Seabiscuit36]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

maybe he needs Tommy John surgery

might miss opening day they are saying...paging dr andrews....

holy shtein....

[Geowhizzer]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

maybe he needs Tommy John surgery

might miss opening day they are saying...paging dr andrews....

holy shtein....

Could be much ado about nothing.

[phattymatty]

[DH]

Johan Santana scratched from his next start for a sore elbow. 

maybe he needs Tommy John surgery

might miss opening day they are saying...paging dr andrews....

holy shtein....

Could be much ado about nothing.

OMG! He may miss opening day! He may only start 31 games instead of 32! Season over!

You people are amazing.